The Protective Older Sister
by rctperson85
Summary: Lincoln's older sisters have always been there for him when he needed them, and sometimes when he didn't. After all he is their only brother. But what happens in the Loud House when one of them goes way too far in protecting him? Rated T (just in case) for Violence and slight language, though it could probably pass for K plus. The Loud house is owned by Nickelodeon.
1. Chapter 1 - Just like any other

Allow me just a quick moment of your time before you start reading. First of all, thanks for reading this in the first place. This is the first of a four chapter story, mainly about Lynn and Lincoln Loud (No Lynncoln). I started writing this as a means to test my writing ability and see how many people enjoy what I write. If you do enjoy this and want to see the next chapter, please tell me what you thought about it and why you liked it. I am open to Constructive criticism and would like to improve my writing abilities. I know there are probably several grammatical errors in my story. I am not perfect. Please try to review it based on what you thought of it.

 **Chapter One**

The day started like any other Friday in the Loud House.

"Come on Lori! PLEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAASE?" Lana whined.

"I literally just told you no, like, two seconds ago," Lori fumed.

"LOOK OUT! SHE'S GONNA BLOW!" Lisa yelled as she slammed the door to her room shut and a muffled explosion came from it. "I'm still alive!"

"Lisa is just booming with excitement, Isn't she?" Luan laughed, poking her head out of her room. "Get it?"

Everyone groaned. Secretly she loved the collective groan she heard from all her sisters every time she made a pun. It only empowered her to say them even more.

"I think I finally got it dudes!" Luna said as she started playing a riff. "Dang it! I'll never get this down."

"Poo-Poo" Lily giggled, crawling across the scratchy, smelly, old carpet.

"KIDS! Breakfast In five! Be at the table or you're not getting any!" their father bluffed.

"I'm coming!" Leni exclaimed. "I finally found the perfect earrings to go with my dress!"

"DAAAAD! Luan threw a pie in my face again!" Lola screamed.

"Why are you so mad?" Luan asked. "You look like such a cutie pie!"

Again, everyone groaned as Luan laughed.

"Hey Lucy! Think fast!" Lynn proclaimed as she threw a tennis ball at her sister.

Lucy caught it with one hand and said, "Nothing can stop the darkness Lynn. Sigh."

"Ugg, why do you have to be so depressing?" Lynn asked.

Lucy shrugged and started walking downstairs. The majority of the siblings followed one at a time. Luan picked up Lily and followed Lucy down. Lynn threw a football in the air and tried to run down the stairs to get it before it hit the bottom. When she got halfway, she leaped into the air making an attempt to catch it.

"Got It!" she exclaimed, only to find herself plummeting towards the back of the couch. "Uh-Oh..."

SMACK!

"Ooo..." Leni, Lana, and Lola all said at the same time, about to go down.

"I would suspect that being a member of the Homo-Sapien species and with average intelligence, that you would know you could cause possible cerebral and other bodily damage by acting in a way so spontaneous and Illogical," Lisa told her as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

Lynn shook her head and said, "What?"

Sighing, Lisa replied, "You should know better than to do something stupid like that..."

"I'll be fine. It happens all the time!" she said, jumping up and running to the table.

"I highly doubt that." Lisa followed behind her, secretly examining the tiny cuts and scrapes she received from it.

Lincoln, the only son in a family of eleven siblings, finally got out of his room. It was only him and two of his older sisters that weren't downstairs yet. Luna was playing her guitar too loud to hear what dad said and Lori was on the phone with Bobby. Lincoln walked out his room, which was really just a transformed linen closet, and stepped into the upstairs hallway for the first time that morning. He walked over to Luna's room and told her that dad had already called them down for breakfast to which she replied, "Gimme a minute lil' bro, I'll be right there," with a thumbs up to follow

He walked to the open door of Lori's bedroom.

"Lori, dad's already called us down for breakfast," he told her.

Lori scoffed and said, "Can't you see I'm on the phone with Bobby!?" Then turning her head back the other way, she said, "No you hang up!"

Lincoln shrugged and shuffled downstairs to get some breakfast in his classic orange polo and blue jeans. He looked around for a minute and saw the rest of his sisters eating some bacon and eggs in the kitchen, he turned to his left and started walking there himself. When he got into the kitchen, Luna and Lori both finally came downstairs. Luna had her guitar strapped across her back wearing her normal purple school clothes and Lori was texting Bobby, wearing the same thing she always wore. A blue tank top and khaki shorts. Lincoln was just sitting down when they got into the kitchen.

"Hey! What do you call a sea of pigs?" Luan asked. Not waiting for a reply she said, "Baycon! Hahahaha... Get it?" Again the collective groan echoed throughout the room.

"Ha! That was a good one Luan!" her father encouraged.

"That's Eggs-actly what I thought dad!"

"UGGHHHHH!" they all moaned.

More than ten minutes later, they were all finished with breakfast and close to twenty minutes after that they all were finally in the car.

"I want the Sweet Spot!" Lana yelled.

"No, I want the Sweet spot!" Lola commanded.

"I don't get it, is there a bunch of sugar in the sweet spot?" Leni asked, completely dumbfounded.

Lynn threw her soccer ball into the seat that was known as the "sweet spot" and yelled out, "My ball is already there! I'm getting it."

While they were all arguing over who would get the sweet spot, Lincoln casually strolled out of the house and just before reaching the van called out, "Shotgun!" and proceeded to his seat.

"Dang it..." Lynn complained. "Forgot about that one..."

"Why do you always get shotgun?" Luna asked.

"It's really quite simple," Lisa started as she climbed into the car. "He has successfully manipulated us into believing that this so called 'Sweet Spot' is the best possible location in the automobile to sit. So whenever the time comes for us to depart our current residence each morning, we all start bickering over who will receive this so called 'sweet spot.' And Lincoln, being the oh-so-clever brother that he thinks he is, takes advantage of our unnecessary squabble and claims the front passenger seat."

"Wait, if you know that, then why don't you ever call shotgun?" Lincoln asked.

"The only reason that I have not yet claimed the front seat is because my booster seat, which I unfortunately require in order to meet proper safety measures, is in the middle row and I don't want to move it, seeing as the middle of our vehicle is the safest spot in it, as all of you would cushion me in the event of a possible vehicle malfunction or automobile accident," she finished, trying not to chuckle.

"Are you done yet?" Lana asked.

"Technically I have much more to say about the hap-hazardous safety measures this vehicle is equipped with, but for now? Yes, I am finished."

"Ugh, about time"

With Lori driving and Lincoln already riding shotgun, the rest of them just piled in wherever they could. Luan ended up snagging the sweet spot to which she made a pun that no one laughed at, Lisa sat in her booster seat, and the rest of them started crawling into whatever spots were left. Finally, after what would seem like an eternity for a normal family, the Louds left the house in almost record time.

They actually, left the house so early, that their parents decided to give Lori some money to get all of them some Ice Cream before they went to school. They stopped at the Burpin' Burger and when they got in, they all proclaimed what they wanted in a chaotic, random, unorganized fashion.

"You all just need to literally SHUT UP! You're getting the exact same thing! All of you!" she boomed at them.

After a series of moans and groans and getting eleven small ice cream cones, the Loud family packed back into the van and they left the joint. Lori dropped off the twins and Lucy at the primary school, took Lincoln to his school which was right next to the primary school, and then brought Lisa to the local college where she spoke about various different scientific matters on a regular basis. She dropped off Lynn at the middle school before zipping across the road where the high school was. She drove around for a bit before finally finding a parking space. When she did finally get in it, the four oldest loud sisters started walking into their high school. Lori met up with Bobby and they walked to class together.

"Bobby Boo Boo Bear!" Lori Exclaimed.

"Babe!" Bobby said as they embraced each other as stereotypical teenagers in love would.

Leni found a couple of her friends after walking through the front door and ran over to chat with them.

"OMG! You will not believe what happened last night!" she enthusiastically started telling them.

Luan started making jokes about the school, "I thought this was supposed to be a high school, but it doesn't look very tall."

"That's not why it's called _high_ school" Luna chuckled.

"Maybe you should leave the jokes to me Luna, that didn't _crack_ anyone up."

Luna just looked back in front of her with an annoyed look on her face. Luan took a quick look at her and said, "Don't worry, you'll do fine as long as you don't _speed_ through the next one."

Luna actually thought that that one was pretty funny, but refused to show it and tried her best to keep a straight face. Besides, she knew that Luan was uncomfortable making drug jokes so she didn't want to encourage her to keep doing it. It made her wonder why she made that joke in the first place.

Finally, Luan and Luna went their separate ways. Luna to her music class and Luan to her cooking class, in which she only ever made pies. Before Luna got to her class she couldn't help but wonder what her other sibling's days were going to be like.

For Lisa, there was nothing out of the ordinary. She got up in front of a bunch of college kids in an enormous auditorium and started lecturing them about quantum physics and the different molecules necessary in order to create a nuclear reaction or something like that. Lola paraded through the school in her pretty pink dress occasionally playing dolls with some of the other girls and Lana played in the dirt and made mud pies with the boys whenever she could. Nothing strange, at least, not to Lola and Lana Loud. Lucy sat silently in her classroom writing and reciting poems for her teacher and the rest of the class, then during recess would sit under a tree and just write poems. Nothing weird, at least, not for Lucy Loud. Lincoln talked to Clyde all about the days and what his various sisters did the previous night and hung out with Ronnie Anne for a few minutes before the other guys made fun of him and he stormed off. Nothing abnormal, at least, not for Lincoln Loud. Luan made dozens of pies in her cooking class and cracked a bunch of jokes during all the rest of her classes, which, every time she did, there was a collective groan throughout the room. Nothing peculiar, at least, not for Luan Loud. Luna jammed out in her music class and strolled through the school the rest of the time, humming and whistling popular rock tunes, sometimes even getting in trouble for not listening. Nothing bizarre, at least, not for Luna Loud. Leni sat down and looked at her teacher and pretended to act like she was listening when really, she didn't have a clue as to what was going on and then between classes, chatted up a storm about clothes and the newest designer purse to her friends. Nothing irregular, at least, not for Leni Loud. And Lori obsessed over Bobby all day long, texting him during class when she got the chance and meeting up with him by their lockers every time between classes. Nothing odd, at least, not for Lori Loud. Lynn Loud however, was a different story.

It started off like a normal day. She fell asleep in her first class, which was math, and was startled awake when the teacher yelled her name.

"LYNN!"

She snorted, almost jumping out of her seat as she said, "FORTY-TWO!"

The rest of the class laughed at her and, accidentally chuckling at the unintentional reference, the teacher told Lynn to sit up and stay awake, which she didn't do. She went through her other classes, bored all day, passing a tennis ball on her desk between her hands most of the time. She finally got to the class right before her athletics class. This one was always slower than any of her other classes because it was right before her favorite class and by the end of that class she was pretty much vibrating up and down in her seat. As soon as the bell rang, she made a mad dash to her last class of the day. She was in the boys class because she was so far ahead of the girls that it wasn't even fair to the rest of them. The same could be said for the boys, but they knew how to take it better than the girls could. That being said, the boys weren't exactly happy with the fact that a girl was better at everything they did. She still used the girls locker room for obvious reasons despite the fact that she was in the boys class.

They had always made fun of her for being in the boys class, but she didn't care. It didn't get to her. She knew they were only saying that stuff because they were jealous of how much better she was than them. They kept trying to tease her though. They were all playing soccer and Lynn was running down the field about to score a goal with all of the rest of the class playing against her. A boy by the name of Tommy tried to make her mad by saying, "you know boys are just naturally more athletic than girls right?" Then he tried to kick the ball out of Lynn's solid, dribbling skills, but when he did he tripped and Lynn scored a goal against them. Tommy was the leader of the boys. Despite the classic stereotypes, he wasn't too good looking. He had shaved brown hair and mild acne. With something like that, Lynn didn't exactly think him to be a looker.

"Seven to Zero" she said looking straight at him with a smirk on her face. "You can keep trying that all you want, but it's never gonna work, loser!" And with that she turned around and started to go get a drink of water.

"You know, you're gonna get hurt like that. And when you do, no one is going feel sorry for you. Not your parents, not any of your sisters, not even your own brother," he retorted.

This time, the things he said did bother her, not enough to change her mindset about the situation though. Until he said something about Lincoln. She stopped, dead in her tracks when she heard that?

"What about my brother?" she said with a dark look on her face.

Tommy finally did it. He got under her skin. He smirked as she finished her question and tried to keep himself from ruining the moment he had always been waiting for, finally seeing it after months of fruition. He would never tell her, but he would intentionally listen in on her conversations with her friends, trying to get under her skin in any way possible. He knew tons about her brother, but never thought that this would be the thing to trigger a response from her. Remembering what he overheard as he passed by her and her friends one day in the hallway he started by saying, "Your brother... What's his name again? Oh yeah, Lincoln. Or should I say, Linky."

That's what started the fire. Lynn never called him that, but she often talked about how her older sister Leni would affectionately call him that around the house. So Lynn, Fuming, but trying her best not to show it, turned around to face them.

"Let's get one thing straight here." She started as she pointed back at him. "I don't call my brother 'Linky'"

She was about to continue on, but was quickly interrupted by Tommy. "Oh yes you do, I've overheard you talking about him!"

She started stomping towards him, in an attempt to intimidate him. It was working, but there was no way that he was going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that. Instead of stepping back, he just said, "I heard about the trophy case incident."

Instantly, she stopped and her eyes widened. Even more fumed now, she ran up to him, grabbed his shirt at the collar, nearly lifting him off of the ground, and demanded in almost a whisper, "Who told you about that?"

"I'm not gonna say." he insisted.

"You better tell me?" she demanded again. "Or you won't live to see tomorrow."

"Poor linky," he started, fueled by seeing Lynn so angry at him. "You all felt so sorry for him. He didn't have a single trophy in his part of the trophy case. So you made one for him, just so he wouldn't feel left out."

"SHUT UP!" she screamed, shoving him back.

"Your little brother Lincoln," he taunted. "I've heard that he's so weak he can't fight his own fights. You have to fight all of them for him."

"I said SHUT UP!"

"Aww," he taunted again. "You really do care about your little brother."

She crossed her arms and looked away, desperately trying to ignore them, but she knew that she was close to her limit. Tommy had been working at breaking her ever since she stopped when he mentioned her brother. He had done a phenomenal job getting under her skin and was about to deliver the finishing blow. Before, it had just been playful taunting, slowly bending her to his will, but then his taunting, amusing, devilish smile turned more serious as he stood there with his arms now crossed just below his chest.

"Poor... Sad... Pathetic... Little... Linky..."

She finally snapped.

He barely finished the words when she delivered the first blow to his jaw with a right uppercut, breaking it almost instantly with a fury and a rage he had never seen from her before. He instantly regretted everything he said and was about to make an attempt to apologize, but it was too late. The rage and aggression she was showing incited fear within himself. He started to fall back, but before he even hit the ground, she kicked his legs out from underneath him, hitting him right at his ankles, spraining both of them as they jerked to the side. When he fell to the ground, three feet back from where he was standing, making a satisfying thud when he did, she kicked him in the side of his torso as hard as she could. He flipped and rolled over onto his stomach for about a second, then felt himself being flipped onto his back again. If they were playing football, the pads would have made it to where he would have just been able to get up and run away, but she broke a couple of his ribs when she kicked him. She fell to her knees on top of him and repeatedly punched him in the face, whipping it back and forth across the ground. She got four or five good hard licks in, knocking him out completely before she was pulled off of him by the coach. She knew exactly what she was doing, but despite that, as soon as she was put back on the ground, she started running.

"Lynn Loud! Where are you going!" her coach yelled at her to no avail.

Lynn started sprinting across the field, clearing it in about ten seconds and getting out of sight of the coaches after thirty more seconds. Even the coaches couldn't keep up with Lynn sometimes. She was so far ahead of them and had so much more stamina that they just couldn't catch her. She ran around to the front fence of the school, hopped right over it with ease, and then kept on running, and running, and running; not once slowing her pace. She wasn't running because she was afraid of what she had done or because she didn't want to get in trouble. She _could_ care less about those things. She obviously didn't want to get in trouble and she was scared about what she had done, but those things paled in comparison to what she was feeling. She was feeling physical pain of course. You can't hit someone that hard as many times as she did and not feel a little pain. Her knuckles were starting to swell up from those brutal punches she delivered, and she started developing a slight limp as she may have twisted her own ankle from kicking him so hard, but she didn't slow down. Not even a little bit.

She just ran.

She ran because she knew that if she didn't, she would jump right back on top of him and start wailing on him again. She ran so that she could avoid fighting with him again. She ran because she didn't want anyone to see what was happening to her. She ran, because she didn't want anyone to see the tears in her eyes.

She ran. But it wasn't because of what she did to Tommy.


	2. Chapter 2 - Confrontation

Thanks to everyone who read the first chapter and thanks to everyone who gave me some advice on what to do. Hopefully, I fixed some things about this chapter. Don't know if I got everything though. I know for a fact that some people might see the flashbacks as unnecessary, but I decided to keep them in anyway. Enjoy the second chapter, I doubt it's as good as the first. Let me know what you think of it

 **Chapter two - Confrontation**

The phone ringing could actually be heard for once.

"Hello?"

"..."

"Yes this is Mrs Rita Loud speaking. What can I do for you?"

"..."

"Oh no, what did she do this time?"

"..."

"What?!"

"..."

"Don't worry, when we find her, we'll take care of it."

"..."

"Uh-huh?"

"..."

"Good Heavens! Is he okay?!"

"..."

"How long will he be there?"

"..."

"Sir I assure you we will straighten things out."

"..."

"Yes sir, we have insurance. We'll get it taken care of."

"..."

"Thank you."

"..."

"Okay. Goodbye." And with that, there was once again silence. Rita Loud couldn't believe what she was hearing. In just a moment, the whole world seemed to stop spinning. Never had any daughter of hers done something like that. Dragging a hand down her face, she leaned on the counter-top. This wasn't the first time that Lynn had sent someone to the hospital. It happened all the time as a matter of fact, but most of the time, it was just a broken nose, or a sprained ankle or wrist. Even Rita herself agreed that it had been deserved on occasion, but this was completely different. It was never necessary for an ambulance to come pick up some poor soul that Lynn had beat up. And it was never at the school either. It was always either at the park, at the pool, or somewhere else. One time it was even in their own backyard.

 _ **Flash-back**_

Lincoln had invited a couple of athletic guys, that actually happened to be cool with him, over to his house because he thought it would help him to get into sports. After all, he didn't want what happened to Lynn happening again. He still felt a sense of guilt for what had happened, even though it was just a sprained ankle, and had no plans on getting anyone hurt, so he had them sneak into the backyard, hopefully without being seen. After playing for a little bit, Lincoln was able to learn the basics of football, but Lynn just happened to look outside her bedroom window just then and saw them playing. She instantly dropped the baseball that she had been throwing into her pitching net and ran outside.

"Hey Lincoln, can I play!?"

This was exactly what Lincoln was trying to avoid. "No way Lynn, don't you remember what happened last time you tried to play a sport for me?"

Lynn looked up for a brief second. Rolling and then closing her eyes, she said, "Pfft, that was like, two weeks ago. I'm fine now!"

"No! I'm not gonna let it happen."

"Pleeeeeeease Linc?"

"No!"

Lynn sighed. "Okay, I'll just go back to my room and listen to Lucy read her dark, depressing, poems." She made sure to emphasize dark and depressing.

Lincoln rolled his own eyes and sighed. After a long moment of silence and Lynn lingering up the wooden stairs of the back porch, he caved in. "Fine... You can play..."

"THANKS LINC!" She didn't hesitate, rushing to play with the other guys. Lincoln instantly regretted it and just started watching them. There was a game going on almost instantly and in about 5 minutes, Lynn's team was in the lead, twenty-one to zero. The only reason that Lincoln knew this is because one of the things he was able to figure out, just before Lynn came outside, was how the scoring system worked. Each touchdown is worth six points and every extra point attempt was worth one. How did anyone get any points in any other sport? Lincoln, distracted in his thoughts, just sat on the back porch watching them, starting to notice that Lynn was having a little too much fun. When her team was on defense, she would start making plays that didn't exactly look sportsmanlike, or even legal and on offense she would start running all over the backyard just trying to make the game more fun. But what finally ended the game was when, playing defense, Lynn stuck her leg out and tripped the ball carrier. She didn't even try to tackle him. All she wanted to do, was see if she could make him trip with as little movement as possible and hit his face on the ground. Lynn got her wish alright, but the kid's chin hit a root that was sticking up, breaking his jaw. Seeing this, Lincoln instantly stood up and started running over to them.

"Lynn? Why did you do that?"

"It was just an accident?" she replied, trying not to laugh.

Lincoln put his hands on his waist and glared at her.

"Okay, so I did do it on purpose. But I never thought he would break his jaw!" Lynn was undoubtedly enjoying seeing this guy in pain.

"Well obviously" Lincoln thought as he rolled his eyes. "Otherwise you wouldn't have done it."

He then turned around and went to get somone. If the kid had never gotten seriously hurt, Lincoln might have just been able to let it go, but the guy probably broke his jaw, so he felt like he was forced to do the responsible thing. Lynn got grounded for a week and every time she saw the kid in school, she had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from laughing.

 _ **End of Flash-back**_

Lynn regretted nothing. After saying those things Tommy did about Lincoln, there was no way that she would be able to forgive him. She didn't just protect Lincoln physically, but she was also determined to make sure that no one would ever make fun of him. Sure, he had his flaws, everyone does, and today was a perfect example of that. But there was no way that she would let anyone touch or pick on her little brother, Especially if they were doing it while he wasn't even there. She remembered how she felt when she found out that people were picking on her behind her back and she was never going to let that happen to her little bro.

Finally taking a break from thinking all of these things, she found herself running home. She didn't do it on purpose, certainly, but for now, it was the only place she could go. When she got there, she looked up at it for a second and quickly ran around to the side door where the kitchen was and crawled in through the doggy door. Lucky for her, her mother was too distracted by the news she was receiving on the phone to even notice that Lynn successfully snuck into the house. Once she did get past a rather ballistic mother, she quietly tip-toed to her room and quickly sunk under her bed. Once she got there, she started crying.

No one could hear her. She wouldn't let anyone know that she had totally broken down. Not even her sisters. She would just have to get over it and play it like nothing had happened, which she had successfully done before. But something was different this time. People had made fun of her before for being the only girl in a boys class. It was bothersome for a while, but she had gotten used to it by now. But no one, before today, had dared to make fun of any of her siblings, let alone her only brother. She loved him. And as guilty as she felt about it, it was obvious that she preferred Lincoln over the rest of her siblings. She didn't know why she even had a favorite. Various different reasons crossed through her head, however, she didn't think about it for very long. It only made her feel more guilty. She just laid there under her bed and quietly sobbed.

No one had ever been in the hospital for more than a few hours because of Lynn, but now Tommy would have to stay overnight there, maybe two. He was hurt, bad. Bruises were scattered on his face and his eyes were both purple looking. There was a nasty knot on the left of his forehead, as well as having received a broken jawbone and nose. There was another bruise from where he was kicked on his side and there were two bruises on each of his shoulders from where he was grabbed and flipped back over. He had two fractured ribs on his left side and both of his ankles were swollen up. One of them was even broken. Adding onto all that, he had a terrible headache and ringing ears. Then as if to put the icing on the cake, he felt so guilty and embarrassed of what he did. He knew he had gone way too far with making fun of Lynn's brother, but never thought that this would happen. That fight was so brutal that he was already out cold before even being given a chance to say sorry. But it was too late now and there was no way he could take it back.

No one found out what happened with Lynn, but when Lori got home from school, their mother wasn't there. Confused about what was going on, she texted her mother.

 _Lori: Where are you?_

 _Mom: Oh I'm just doing some_

 _grocery shopping :)_

 _Lori: Tell me what actually_

 _happened..._

 _After a few minutes with no reply_

 _Mom:Lynn got in a fight and_

 _ran away from school :/_

 _Went out to look for her,_

 _still don't know where she_

 _is. Don't tell anyone!_

 _You're in charge_

In a grand total of about seven seconds, Lori's face went from expressionless, to curious, to confused, to surprised, and finally ended with a look of worry. When everyone else had been picked up and were doing what they normally did, she told them all to go to the living room for a family meeting.

"Everyone! Downstairs! Now!"

With a thunderous roar, all of them but Lincoln stomped down to the living room and gathered around the couch. The only reason that Lincoln didn't come is because he closed the door to his room to make sure none of his other sisters bothered him. He was too engrossed in the most recent edition of Ace Savvy and didn't hear Lori, apparently, no one else had noticed either.

"Mom has left for the night on some important business and she put me in charge," she said, without even making sure everyone was there. Everyone complained, but she continued anyway, lying to her sisters.

"Lynn isn't here right now, she... decided to stay late for soccer practice."

"Wait a minute, Lynn doesn't have soccer on Fridays" Lola boomed.

"Ugh, you know how she is," Lori snarled, silently thankful that Lola asked. It gave her time to come up with a response. "She always wants an excuse to get more practice in."

They all seemed to fall for that. "Mom is going to pick up Lynn before she gets back. Remember. I'm in charge, so you have to do what I say!"

They all complained again, but agreed. After what happened a few months ago when Lincoln was voted in charge and the house nearly fell apart, they decided to trust Lori's judgment. Besides, it wasn't that bad with her in charge anymore. Lori dismissed them and they all went back to the things they were doing.

Lincoln realized that it had become quiet all of a sudden and decided to check out what was going on. He stopped reading Ace Savvy, got up and opened the door just a crack. Right when he did, all the rest of his sisters came back upstairs and returned to their normal routines. Nothing had seemed to change, so he went back to reading his comic. Finishing it about thirty minutes later, he said to himself, "Man, I can't wait for the next one," as he put his current edition in a neat little pile where all of the other comics were. Then, reaching into his backpack, about to start on his homework, he found some tennis balls in the bottom of it.

"What are these doing here? I don't remember bringing any tennis balls to school." He thought with a quizzical look on his face. "Whatever, they're probably Lynn's. I better go give them back to her."

He carefully stepped out of his bedroom and walked over to Lynn and Lucy's room. Opening the door, not even paying attention, he said, "Hey Lynn, do you want these back?" and he raised the tennis balls in his hand.

Realizing that she wasn't responding, he walked into the room. Treading carefully, he quickly scanned the room, expecting Lynn to pop out of nowhere yelling "Lucha Libre!" But he didn't see her anywhere where she could easily jump on him. So with a sigh of relief, he immediately looked under the Lynn's bed and found her laying there, rolling a baseball back and forth between her hands, looking quite depressed.

"Lynn?" he asked.

"What! Who's there?!" She reeled back, prepared to throw the ball at Lincoln's face.

Lincoln yelped as he flinched and then, realizing what he had done, sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I know, I know, two for flinching..." But when Lynn just told him to go away, Lincoln immediately assumed something was wrong. He went downstairs to find that Lori was sitting on the couch texting Bobby.

"Hey Lori!"

Instantly, she realized that Lincoln never came downstairs for the meeting and smacked herself in the forehead. But instead of going off on him, like she normally would if he had missed something like this, she recognized that it was partially her own fault for not noticing he wasn't there, so she just sighed and said, "What do you want twerp?"

"Why is Lynn hiding under her bed?"

"What?! She's been under her bed this whole time?!"

Before this point, it could have been questionable as to whether something was wrong, but now, Lincoln could definitely tell. He wanted to ask what it was, but instead, waited until one of them broke the silence.

She sighed and said, "Fine. Come here twerp."

Lincoln sat down on the couch next to Lori and she started whispering in his ear. Careful not to be too loud, everything was revealed from the moment that mom texted her about Lynn to the moment when she told everyone else what was going on. When the story was over, Lincoln spoke up, "Wow, must've been some fight if she ran away like that..."

"Shut up twerp!" she whispered in a commanding tone. "Remember, literally, no one else knows what happened, so just keep it to yourself."

"Okay, Okay, but I'm still gonna go talk to her."

"Ugh, fine. Just don't tell anyone else what really happened," and with that, Lori sent a quick text to mom, telling her what she had told the rest of the kids, that Lincoln found Lynn hiding under the bed, and then went back to texting bobby.

Lincoln shrugged and ran back upstairs to Lynn's room. No one else knew that Lynn was actually home. Lucy briefly went into her room, but only to grab a flashlight. She crawled up to the vent and started working on some poems, never even noticing that Lynn was under the bed. Lynn was not crying anymore, but was obviously still distraught from what had happened. No one but Lincoln, Lori, and their mom knew where she was.

Despite what many of their sisters think, Lynn was actually really good at hiding; probably the best; even better than Lucy. The only reason that no one thought so was because Lincoln always accidentally stumbled across her hiding spot, like he did today. They would all play hide and seek in the park on occasion, and Lincoln would be the only one to ever find Lynn. He never even tried to look for her because, again, he kept finding her _on accident_. In a family of eleven kids, they didn't play hide and seek where one person looked for everyone, but rather, once a person was found, they would help the seeker look for other people. One time, Lynn got the genius idea to constantly change hiding places so that no one would ever figure out where she was. It would have worked. She knew that she was fast enough to be able to not be seen running around by her sisters, so it never crossed her mind that anyone would be able to catch her.

 _ **Flash-back**_

"haha, no one will find me this time!" She said to herself quietly as she hid in the first hiding spot. Everything was planned out. She would stay in this spot until a few people had been found, then would run to where someone else was hiding and stay there until a few more had been found, and would repeat the process until everyone else had been found. Then she would emerge from her hiding spot, victorious and gloating over the rest of her sisters about how she was the best at hide and seek. But that plan failed almost instantly.

Lincoln was and is notoriously bad at hiding, but knew exactly how to find almost all of his sisters. He never had a plan for finding Leni because she never actually tried to hide, and he always accidentally stumbled across Lynn. Lincoln was found almost immediately by Luna, so he started helping look for the other siblings. He found Luan pretty quick who would reveal herself by laughing when Lincoln told a corny joke here and there about hiding, and then found Lucy hiding in the darkest part of the park; the same place where she always hides.

Lynn had been watching them for a while now and decided that it was time to move. Waiting until Lincoln looked like he was going to leave the scene, she kept hidden. When Lincoln finally started moving, she got up and started running across the grass. Sprinting, but treading as lightly as possible, she looked everywhere but in front of her, trying to make sure that no one could see her or hear her. The plan had been working so far, but she didn't notice that Lincoln had turned around, and before she knew it. WHAM!

Lincoln and Lynn collided, butting heads with a thud as they fell to the ground. Lincoln hit the ground first and she continued rolling over him, getting past, and finally stopped herself, sitting up. A little dazed at first, she started to get up and tried to keep running. Maybe no one would see what happened if she was fast enough, but of course, she was never fast enough to escape his quick moving eyes. Lincoln sat up and instantly yelled out, realizing what she was trying to do "Found you Lynn!"

"Dang it!"

Lynn helped Lincoln up, both of them holding their heads in pain. At first Lynn was so angry that a perfectly good plan like this went to waste and was about to punch Lincoln in the shoulder, but upon seeing that he had a headache too, she just laughed at him.

"I bet I can find everyone else first!" she told him.

"Oh, you're on!" Lincoln quickly replied.

 **End of Flash-back**

Lynn wasn't surprised when Lincoln was the one that found her, but she knew it was only a matter of time before he would come up and try to talk to her. School was nearly out when she ran away, so she hadn't been there for much longer than an hour the first time Lincoln came up. She had been quiet as a mouse, yet remained restless. Rolling that ball back and forth between her hands had kept her busy, but she was also shaking her feet every so often, trying to keep them from falling asleep.

"So that's what happened," Lincoln stated as he entered the room. His sudden presence startled Lynn, almost as if it were Lucy in the room instead. She knew this was coming and yet still, kept trying to avoid it.

"I already told you to go away Lincoln..."

"No way!" he started telling her. "You can't just get in a fight, run away and then expect nothing to happen."

She knew that he was right. There was no running from this like she did the fight, so, with a sigh, she finally confessed, "Who told you about it?"

"The school called mom who told Lori what happened, then she told me what was going on. Everyone else thinks you're at soccer practice because mom didn't want everyone else to worry about you."

"Hey twerp!" The door of Lynn's room burst open. "Mom said she's on her way back. Lynn, If Lincoln already told you what I said, then you should find a way outside, like, literally, now! And without anyone seeing you." And with that, Lori left.

"Well, looks like I better go face the music," Lynn said, crawling out from under the bed. Without even glancing at Lincoln, she opened and jumped out the window, shimmying down the side of the house and jumping down on the ground when low enough. She ran around to the front of the house, hopping over the chain-link fence and, successfully avoiding all her sisters, prepared herself to get the grounding of a lifetime. Lincoln had something else in mind though. Running downstairs, he approached the front door, opened it, and went outside. He saw Lynn already out there, just waiting for their mom to get home. He walked over to her, unnoticed until being right next to her.

"Great, what do _you_ want?"

"I just wanna talk Lynn..."

"Of course you do..." That was just typical of him. He knows whenever something is wrong with his sisters and it's just not like him to ignore it when there is.

There was a pause for about five seconds until Lincoln spoke up. "I wanna know what really happened!

Saying that took her completely by surprise just standing there now, looking dumbfounded. What did he mean by that? Did he know already and was just asking to confirm it? Or was it something else?

"What do you mean, I got in a fight, hurt the guy pretty bad, then ran off."

"That's exactly it. You've never run away after fighting someone before, let alone hid under the bed..."

Lynn sighed. This conversation was unavoidable, but she wasn't ready for it yet. When Lincoln asked her what really happened, everything that Tommy said started replaying in her mind, almost echoing throughout it, and she started getting choked up. There wouldn't be any controlling herself if Lincoln started talking about it right then and there. No one but Lincoln needed to see that, and she was even hesitant about him seeing it. So she had to wait to tell him until there was no way that they could be distracted, so that no one else could see what was bound to happen when she told him what really went on. She didn't want anyone, not even her own sisters to know that she got so distraught over something so simple.

"I don't want to talk about it right now Lincoln," Lynn told him. "We can talk about it later tonight when I'm more in the mood."

Lincoln realized that this was more than just running away from a fight. If she wasn't even ready to talk to him about it with him yet, then she wasn't going to reveal it at all. So with a sigh, he said, "okay. I assume that you'll sneak into my room in the middle of the night like you always do?"

"Yeah, probably." She picked up a tennis ball off of the ground and started tossing it in the air, repeating the process upon catching it.

Lincoln walked back into the house and Lynn started throwing the ball against the wall, hitting the it with a thump every time. Keeping it up for about ten minutes, their mom finally got home. She scolded Lynn for doing what she did and grounded her for a month, not telling her how severe Tommy's injuries were. She also said that she had a meeting with the school principal and that they would decide the proper course of action on Monday. She had been suspended until they made a decision about how to handle the situation. Lynn didn't care though. She didn't mind taking the punishment as long as her little brother was okay. No one makes fun of him like that and just gets away with it.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Inevitable

Thanks to everyone who saw the story. There are over 1,000 views on it now! I know I'm not the best writer, but I really appreciate everyone who has followed. Again, I am completely open to constructive criticism and would actually appreciate it if you could give me some advice. I really tried to make this chapter interesting, but after reading it, I have a feeling I probably overdid it. I also should have told everyone this when I started, but I've actually already finished this story and I'm just uploading the chapters at different times so that I can see how people react to each of them. Again, thanks to everyone who reads this and reviews it.

 **Chapter 3 - The Inevitable**

Lynn trudged up to her room to sit on her bed. She would never be able to forgive herself if Lincoln had gotten hurt and she didn't do anything, whether it was physically, or emotionally. But the thing is, Lincoln was okay. He had no idea that he had been made fun of, at least, not yet. But for some reason, there was still that nagging need to defend him, even when it wasn't necessary. Thinking about it some more, she started realizing that maybe he did need to learn how to hold his own. After all, there wasn't always going to be someone there for him. Of course there was, what was she thinking. She would always be there for her little brother, the person who was closest to him, in age anyway. She may not always be with him physically, but she would always make time for him. One of the things that Tommy said had been nagging her for a while now.

 _"_ _He can't fight his own fights. You have to fight all of them for him."_

Maybe there was some truth to his statement. He could be right, but even if that were the case, it wasn't Lincoln's fault. Lynn had always been protective of her little brother, maybe sometimes even going a little too far, and it made him soft. Never has he had to rely on his own strength to get him out of a bad situation. Lynn would always muscle her way through it for him without even having to ask. She did it willingly. Sometimes even when he didn't want her or anyone to. Thinking about that, she reminisced over what happened when he got a paper-cut. Maybe they were over-protective of their brother, but it was only cause they loved him. After all, he was their only brother, for all of them.

Lynn was laying back on her bed, throwing her favorite tennis ball against the wall, again and again, making a distinctive thud every time it hit. No one else was doing something out of the ordinary. Lucy was still in the vent writing poems and Luna was rocking out to some _Aero-is-Myth._ Lincoln was in his room reading comics and Lori was talking to Bobby on the phone. Lily was crawling around, practically naked, and Lisa was blowing stuff up in her laboratory. Leni was working on some kind of scarf and Luan was watching some comedy routines, learning as much as she could while still enjoying it. Lana was in the bathroom playing with the sink pipes and Lola was parading around in her car, practicing her pageant wave. No one was fighting, which was a rare occurrence in the Loud house, and since it was a Friday, they all had pizza to look forward to that night.

The pizza arrived at about eight-thirty and everyone, including Lynn, ran downstairs and got a single slice of a plain old cheese pizza. Once they finished, they fought over who got the last slice, then all went back to whatever they were doing. Even Lynn just went back to her room and started bouncing that tennis ball against the wall again. No one even noticed that something was odd about the way she was acting. Even Lisa, who would normally jump on the opportunity to study something irregular about her sister's behavior, never thought anything was different.

 _"_ _He can't fight his own fights. You have to fight all of them for him."_

"That's not true," she desperately tried to convince herself. The words echoed through her mind like a Drum Corps in a Stadium. She knew he was right. He wouldn't need his sisters' help if he could learn how to stand up for himself. However, Most of the time, he didn't care to do that. Every time someone made fun of him, with the exception of those few times with Ronnie-Anne, he just shrugged it off and went on his way, just wanting to avoid a conflict. It also explained why he feels like he needs to be the peace-keeper in the house. He never wants to be involved in conflict and doesn't enjoy seeing it.

Lynn stopped bouncing the ball upon realizing that. She picked on him so much and he just took it, not once trying to fight back or anything. It wasn't just with Lynn though. Every time any of his sisters made fun of him, he just ignored it. But every time that someone else tried picking on him, they defended him to the last word, all of them. Even Lily, when seeing Lincoln physically or verbally abused, would point at that person with her rattle and angrily say "Poo-Poo!" The more that Lynn thought about it, the more depressed she became, and the more she wanted to stop thinking about it. But it just wasn't happening. It occupied her mind the entire night, even after everyone went to bed.

Having been deep in thought for a while, it was close to midnight when Lynn finally realized what time it was. She was about to jump out of her bed, but immediately stopped. Lucy was asleep, as well as most everyone else in the house with the exception of Lincoln, who had also lost track of time reading comics. Lynn slowly eased out of bed, tip-toeing across the rugged floor of their room, trying not to make any noise. Leaving the room, she silently proceeded, at first in the direction of Lincoln's room whose light was still on, but then stopped after just one step, frozen in fear, more nervous than she had ever been in her whole life. Finally breaking away from it, she flew to the bathroom instead.

She had never had to do anything like this before and just couldn't do it. Nothing ever scared her, except this. She knew what was going to happen, and she didn't want anyone to see it, not even Lincoln. With the exception of Lucy and probably Lisa, she was the most emotionally resilient of her sisters. It was okay for her to express happiness and joy and even anger in front of her other siblings, but never sadness, and never to this degree.

She tried to psyche herself up. Maybe this feeling would go away after a few minutes. But, unsurprisingly, it didn't work. Finally giving up, she left the bathroom. There was no way that she was ready to talk to Lincoln yet. He wasn't exactly going to be happy with this. The long slow walk back to her room took forever, trudging along the carpet of the upstairs hallway. Lynn didn't even want to think about how her little brother would react. She was going to beat herself up over this for a long time, because she knew that he actually would forgive her for not showing up. The shuffle back didn't keep her from that feeling of shame, but she did finally get back and got in bed. She started drifting off, but something, or rather, someone startled her.

"Finally ready to talk?"

Lynn jumped under the covers and instantly sat up, hitting Lincoln on the shoulder. "What are you doing in my room!?"

"What do you mean _your room?_ This has always been my room." Lincoln replied in an annoyed whisper, also sitting up. It was clear that she didn't come into his room on purpose, but at the same time, he realized that maybe it wasn't completely an accident.

Lynn looked around for a brief second and found that she was indeed in Lincoln's room. She had no idea how she had stumbled in there. She would have loved to believe that it was because the light in Lincoln's room had just turned off for the night when she finally left the bathroom, and wanted to think that it was because she couldn't see that what had happened, happened. But she knew better.

There were a few minutes of awkward silence where they just sat there next to each other in Lincoln's bed in the darkness, and Lynn appreciated the fact that he wasn't speaking at first, but one of them had to speak up eventually.

"So what happened?" Lincoln finally asked, breaking the silence.

Lynn slouched back down and rolled over, turning her back to Lincoln. He got the message that she was unintentionally sending, but also wasn't going to just let her sulk like that.

"You know, you have to tell me what happened eventually."

"No I don't..."

"Yes you do," he firmly replied, crossing his arms. "You can't just keep running away like you did this morning. You have to let it go or it's gonna ruin your life."

Lynn was visibly disturbed by what he said. She knew he was right, but didn't want to admit it.

"You might as well go ahead and tell me now anyway, because we'll all eventually find out what happened."

Her younger, but wiser brother was right. How he was so mature for his age was beyond her comprehension.

"Fine," she finally complied. "I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else."

Lincoln made a locking motion with his hand in front of his mouth. Lynn continued, "and you also have to promise me that what happens in here, stays in here." Again, Lincoln made the same locking motion with his hand, this time throwing an invisible key behind him.

"Well... here goes nothing," she finally started.

Hesitantly, she told him what happened, telling him everything about how they were trying to get under her skin and make her mad. She wasn't showing any signs of discomfort at first and Lincoln started wondering what it was all about and why she didn't want to tell him. "It didn't really bother me at first, but then he said something about..."

"About what?" Lincoln asked.

Again, there was a long pause before Lynn finally said, looking right at him, "About you, Lincoln."

"Whoa..." Lincoln had never expected this.

"He said some things about me that were pretty mean," Lynn started again. "But the things he said about you were just... just... downright evil."

"Tell me what he said," Lincoln asked.

"He said you were weak and pathetic," she told him, almost immediately breaking down into tears. "He.. He..."

Not quite understanding what was going on, Lincoln put his arm around his sister's shoulder. Her head immediately fell on his chest and she wrapped her arms around him. This wasn't something that was easy for her to say.

Lincoln had guessed that something really bad happened when he found Lynn hiding under her bed, but he never thought that Lynn was this upset, especially over her little brother. He wasn't even there to hear what Tommy had said. For a moment, just to make her feel better, Lincoln thought about telling her that Tommy just did it because he was jealous, but she already knew that. It probably wouldn't have endd well anyway. Instead, he just let her cry until she was done.

"Do you know what happened to him? Mom told me what happened." Lincoln finally asked.

"No! And I don't care!" Lynn cried, now losing herself even more. "Don't you get it Lincoln? I did that for you! I did it so that he wouldn't make fun of you!"

She was pretty much bawling uncontrollably in front of her little brother, over him of all things, and he had the nerve to ask her if she knew what happened to him. She didn't think that she would care if Lincoln said that Tommy died in the hospital. She was so mad at him now that she almost wanted him to die. Almost.

Lincoln was honestly a little flattered that she willfully admitted she did all those things for him. This was the last thing he expected from his tough older sister. He knew that she had a soft side. Everyone does. But Lincoln realized that he had never actually seen hers before. And now that he was seeing it right in front of his face, he realized how soft Lynn actually was when she opened up her hard, nigh unbreakable emotional barrier.

"He may not be making fun of anyone anymore," Lincoln finally told her sister, coming up with an idea.

"What do you mean?" Lynn sobbed, despite what she had been thinking, this was the last thing she expected. "I didn't kill him did I?"

"No but..."

"But what?" Lynn almost yelled. Her mind had suddenly changed about wanting him to die. She felt so guilty for thinking that.

Sighing, Lincoln said "He wasn't breathing when the ambulance arrived."

"Wh... What?"

"He's fine now because when mom went to visit him in the hospital a few hours ago they told her that he was okay and she asked what the damages were,"

Lynn's face turned to sheer horror as she sat up in Lincoln's bed. She didn't want to believe it. She had never gone this far before in defending her little brother. She thought she saw him breathing when she ran away, but she was too bothered by what he said. She only punched him like five or six times. Was she really that mad?

"If he's fine then why did you say that he may not make fun of anyone again?"

"Brain Damage," Lincoln replied. "You know that you could have killed him Lynn. He was lucky that the ambulance arrived when it did."

She sulked for a minute but then began trying to defend her actions. "He started it though. He knew... He knew that if... if..." She couldn't finish the sentence without feeling guilty for what she had done.

"Lynn," Lincoln calmed her down. "What if that had been me?"

Lynn looked at him, almost thinking it was some sort of joke. But then she started getting choked up again.

"But it wasn't you, and besides, I would never do something like that to you on purpose."

"That's not what I'm talking about. I mean..." Lincoln paused, trying to think it through before proceeding. "What if I was making fun of someone, like he was making fun of me to you, and that person beat me up, like you did to him?"

Lincoln wasn't exactly the smoothest talker, but the point got across. Lynn thought about saying that he would have deserved it, but there was no way that she would be able to get away with a lie like that. She wouldn't be convincing enough, and even if she was, there was no way he'd ever believe that. So with a sigh, she finally admitted that she would find the guy and beat him to a pulp.

"Exactly." There was no point in Lincoln telling her that that was how Tommy's family probably felt, because she got the point. She wasn't exactly a genius like Lisa, but he knew that she wasn't an idiot either.

It wasn't Lincoln's job to tell her stuff like this, but for some reason, it was easier to hear from Lincoln. If Rita or Lynn Sr. would have tried to tell her that, she would have just shrugged and walked off. Not only was she willing, but she even wanted to hear it from Lincoln.

"I lied to you by the way," Lincoln said.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Don't get me wrong, he was plenty knocked up. Three broken ribs, a broken nose and jaw, and two sprained ankles. Not to mention both of his black eyes and three or four bruises on his face as well as a few more on the rest of his body..." Lincoln paused for a moment, "Where was I going with this again?"

"I think it was something about lying to me? Doesn't seem like it though." She crossed her arms and glared at him as she sat back against the headboard.

Oh yeah!" Lincoln remembered. "He wasn't conscious, but he was breathing. He was never even close to dying."

"You little..."

"And he doesn't have any brain damage either," Lincoln told her trying not to laugh.

Lynn was furious now and raised her fist to hit him on the shoulder.

"Wait! Before you hit me for that, I wanna ask you something."

"You got about five seconds, before I sock your arm," she said, her speech still wavering from all the crying she had done.

"Ugh... You know what, just go ahead and get it over with and after I can see the bruise, then I'll ask you."

With a slight glimmer of hope that she might not punch him, Lincoln slowly started cowering, tensed up, and closed his eyes. Lynn sat up and punched him in his left shoulder. "Ah..." Lincoln said, nearly falling out of the bed, covering his mouth before anyone had a chance to hear him. Once he had silenced himself, he grasped his left arm in pain.

"ahhh..." he groaned. "That better have made you feel better..."

"Oh don't worry about that!" Lynn chuckled, leaning back with her hands behind her head. Still moaning from the pain, Lincoln sat himself up straight. He looked back at Lynn with a semi-angry expression on his face, then looked back forward, leaned back and closed his eyes, biting his lips. After a few minutes of recovering, Lynn finally spoke up. "So, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

Instantly, Lincoln, as if trying to pretend Lynn never punched him, sat up and said, "You _could_ have killed him."

"No I wouldn't have!" Lynn snapped, trying to defend herself. "They pulled me off of him before I did anything else."

"But what if they didn't?"

Silence filled the room. Lynn had already thought about this. She knew what she would have done. She didn't feel like she needed to answer that question, at least, not the way Lincoln wanted her to.

"Why do you think I ran?" she finally said.

Lincoln was a little taken aback at this. "What do you mean?"

"Stop playing dumb Lincoln. You know damn well what I mean!" she snapped, barely keeping her voice down.

That was startling. He knew her sister got pretty angry sometimes, but she never cursed. Even when she beat Tommy to a pulp, she didn't let a bad word even slip her tongue.

"Sorry for cursing like that," she started back up again. "But I'm not an idiot, and I know that you're not one either."

"Right..." he awkwardly replied. "Sorry."

She sighed. "Don't be. I probably would have told you even if you were serious. Besides, you weren't the one who had to run as an act of self-control, if you can even call it that..."

They both sat in Lincoln's bed for a minute or two before speaking up again.

"So what now?" Lynn asked, once again breaking the silence.

"Probably Beg," Lincoln answered a bit too confidently for Lynn.

"Beg? What for?"

"What do you think Lynn?" Lincoln started. Now it was his turn to be annoyed. "You sent a kid to the hospital for breaking his jaw, his ribs, and his nose. Do you really think that they'll even let you back into school?"

The thought never crossed her mind. She wasn't even worried about it until now. They were probably going to expel her from school. Then where would she go? She had already built up a reputation in Royal Woods as one of the best soccer players they've ever had.

"Maybe, just maybe if you go and apologize for what you did to him, they'll let you back in."

"Heck No!" she retorted. "He's got to apologize first!" She crossed her arms and violently laid back again.

"Lynn, what you did to him is WAAAYYYYYYY worse than anything he could have possibly said to you." Lynn started opening her mouth to try to say something, but Lincoln didn't stop. "If you're telling me that you got mad and sent him to the hospital because he was making fun of me, then you don't deserve an apology!"

 _Way harsh dude._

Lincoln's words hit her like a brick to the face and she instantly became slack-jawed. She had no Idea that he could be so brutal. What happened to the loving caring brother that was just there a few seconds ago? He was still there, that was him talking. She looked over at him and saw that he wasn't angry at all. The pained, downcast look on his face made it obvious that he did not want to have to tell her that, but she needed to hear it. Once again, her younger, yet wiser brother was right.

"You have to apologize before you can even think about accepting an apology from him," Lincoln finally told her with that same downcast look on his face.

She pulled her legs up to her chest and, reaching around them, buried her head in her knees. Lincoln put his hand around her shoulder again which helped in comforting her, but it was also an attempt to keep himself cool. He actually almost apologized himself for saying it, but this was something that she needed to hear.

Lynn had started crying again, so Lincoln thought that it would be a good time to cut the serious stuff for the night. Lynn lifted her head and put it on her brother's shoulder again. Despite the fact that he was younger, he always, always acted like an older brother. It bothered her for so long because she was the older one. It should be her trying to comfort him like this. But if it weren't for that, she would be

After a few minutes of a less awkward silence, she reluctantly told him that she would apologize to Tommy and to the principal. Maybe showing maturity for once in talking to their principal would help her case, and her punishment would be reduced significantly. She never thought that begging would be an option, but if it was the only way to fix things, then so be it. As long as Lincoln was there, she was prepared to do anything.

Lynn got under the covers of Lincoln's bed and once again rested her head on his shoulder. Still sobbing just a little, she made herself comfortable. Lincoln started stroking her hair. They didn't worry about what was going to happen at that moment, they just laid there in silence, appreciating the other's company. If they never had this talk, Lynn would have been up all night, never moving on from being mad at Tommy. She was too stubborn to do it on her own. It was because of Lincoln that she was able to move on to the point where she could willingly admit that she was wrong. He didn't want to admit it, but Lincoln probably wouldn't have been able to go to sleep either. The plan had been laid out. He thought of every possible situation, but when he found out that it was because of him that she did this, he had to scrap everything. What he saw from his toughest older sister tonight was troubling, but he promised not to tell anyone about it.


	4. Chapter 4 - Forgiveness

Lend me your attention for just a moment. First of all, I want to tell you about my next story. It follows Luna as she tries to convince her other siblings to go to an event that she really wants to go to. There's no serious drama in it, so maybe I won't botch it like I did this one with the middle two chapters. Second, despite what I just said, I really appreciate everyone who has read my story. You have no idea what this means to me. I never would have thought that over 2500 people would read it. I know it's by no means the best story in the world, but it gave me a good idea on what I need to improve on in the future. I'm not going to stop writing this story just because the last two chapters were terrible. Besides, I've already finished it so I might as well go ahead and post the last chapter. Tell me what you think of it! And again, thanks to everyone who has seen it. Enjoy the final chapter of the protective older sister.

 **Chapter** **4 - Forgiveness**

No one questioned why Lynn slept in Lincoln's room that night at firs. They naturally just assumed that Lynn and Lucy had another fight, but when Lucy woke up, just as surprised as the rest of them, though she didn't show it, they decided to ask their parents what had happened. When they found out, they realized that Lincoln must have had one of his famous _come-to-Jesus_ talks with Lynn and they just left her alone about it. They still had no idea why she did it, but they didn't need to know. If anything, it was probably better that they didn't.

Lynn, after waking up, hesitantly talked to her mother about what she realized she needed to do. Her mother, though surprised by this, thought that that was okay and asked her when she wanted to do it. Lynn said now and her mother nearly jumped she was so surprised. Lynn was surprised that she was doing this herself. Despite that, Rita did agree that she needed to get it done.

Before they left, Lincoln asked to come along. Their mother wasn't too thrilled at the idea, but after quickly explaining that he already knew what happened and that it was actually because of him that Lynn beat Tommy up, Rita thought it was a good idea. Lincoln came along, despite Lynn's protests, and punched him when they got in the car. But after they had been in the car for a while, Lynn looked at her brother, trying to make sure their mom wasn't listening, and grinning, said, "Thanks."

He put a thumb up and smiled from ear to ear, "It's no problem. Besides, I don't think Tommy has ever seen me before and I think that he should at least know who he's making fun of."

Lincoln made a devilish grin.

"So are you saying..." Lynn started.

"I'm not saying you were right for doing what you did, but if he intentionally made you that mad, then honestly..." Lincoln paused for a moment and motioned Lynn to come closer. "he probably deserved it... at least to a certain degree."

Lynn laughed at that and they instantly started chatting, only pausing for a moment when their mother needed to tell them something. They talked about everything and anything sports related and Lincoln learned a few things about football and soccer. Lynn learned that there were actually video games about sports and realized that she might want to play a few. Lincoln said that if she was willing to play, then he would try to get some.

Before they stopped at the hospital they took a trip the store to get something that Lincoln asked Lynn to get. She wasn't to ecstatic about doing this, but agreed that it needed to be done. After a few minutes, they got back in the car. They just did whatever siblings do until they finally got to the hospital. They parked and all got out of the car. Lynn was visibly nervous about what she had to do. Lincoln and their mother reassured her that she would be fine and that seemed to ease her worries. It didn't help much, but it did help her enough to be able to walk into the hospital and get up to his room. Their mom wanted to come in too, but they asked her to stay outside and just let each other talk to him.

"Tommy, you have a few visitors," the nurse said to him when the three Louds got there. Tommy wasn't expecting any visitors so when a boy with white hair walked into his room, he didn't know what to think. He didn't know who this kid was.

"I don't believe we've met," Tommy said.

"No we haven't," Lincoln replied, shaking Tommy's hand in the hospital bed.

"What's your name?" Tommy asked.

"Lincoln Loud," Lincoln told him as he started to grin in an almost devilish way.

Tommy's face went pale when he heard that name. They had never met before, but he immediately knew who Lincoln was as the kid motioned his sister into the room. Then Lynn walked in. Tommy immediately looked down, trying to avoid eye contact with Lynn. He was ashamed of what he had said, especially now that he had met the guy that he made fun of so harshly. Then when Lynn walked into the room, he started feeling even worse, almost getting sick to his stomach.

Suddenly he watched Lincoln's face go from that of slight mischief to one that was suddenly serious. He wasn't angry, but you could tell he wasn't exactly happy either. He looked almost annoyed. Tommy thought it was directed at him at first, but then looked at Lynn and saw that her face had the exact same nervous look on it that his own did. Lynn looked at Lincoln and he extended his arm towards Tommy like an amusement park manager would. Lynn looked at him and bit her bottom lip before looking down at the ground again.

Every time that Lynn tried looking at him, she once again remembered everything that Tommy said. She started to get angry again, but when Lincoln looked her in the eyes with that brooding look on his face, she quickly snapped back to reality and realized why she was doing this in the first place. Tommy still had the same look on his face, looking down every time they made eye contact. He was playing with his thumbs and looking down at them. There was a moment of awkward silence.

Lynn finally sighed in defeat and said, "I'm sorry." She was still thinking about what she was going to say next. "I... I shouldn't have done what I did to you... I way overreacted... And... If you'll let me..."

"Go on," Lincoln mouthed at her, after a few seconds, as he looked her straight in the eye, then slowly turned his head back towards Tommy.

"I... I wanna try to... make it up to you," Lynn finally told him, taking a deep breath to calm herself down a little bit. She looked over at Lincoln as if to make sure she did it right. Lincoln nodded his head and walked over to the small, almost nonexistent hallway that went to the front door. The only thing making it a hallway was the bathroom that was a part of the room. He grabbed something off of a small table that was in there.

Lincoln tossed it to Lynn and upon seeing what it was, Tommy sat up. Lynn didn't know this, but Tommy's family wasn't exactly what you would call rich. Neither of his parents had finished college so they were just barely scraping by and couldn't ever afford to buy new things for Tommy. He always had to settle for old used toys, gadgets, and hand-me-downs. He didn't even have his own cell phone. So when he saw a brand new, fairly expensive soccer ball, he was shocked. She had already even written his name on it and everything. As he held it in his hands, admiring it, he saw the price printed on the ball. $45.99. This was a nice, well designed, and expensive ball. But before he could sit up to thank Lynn, she and her brother were out the door. He never got the chance to apologize to her.

As much as she hated to admit it to herself, Lynn actually felt really good doing that. Was this what Lincoln felt like whenever he helped one of his sisters out? If he did, then it was no wonder he did it all the time. It was an weird and strange feeling to Lynn, but good, nonetheless.

After they had finished their hospital visit, they went to the school office and asked to speak to her school principal and the superintendent. Luckily for them, they were both there at the time, talking about exactly this thing. They asked the three of them to come in, and, with encouragement from her mother and Lincoln, Lynn told them what she did. It was hard for her to say, but with her mother standing behind her and Lincoln standing right next to her, it made it a little easier.

With a slight smile on their face, and trying to avoid looking surprised, they told her that it was very mature what she did and then proceeded to tell her that, despite that, they still had to punish her for what she did, which was understandable. So instead of expelling her from school, which was what they had nearly decided to do, they suspended her for a month. Rita let out a sigh of relief from hearing that. As much as Lynn hated school, even she was glad that they didn't expel her. Her other sisters would have never let her live it up if she was.

Lynn, Lincoln, and their mother got home and Lynn had never felt more relieved in her life. If she had never done what she did today, she would be beating herself up mentally for possibly the rest of her life. But if it weren't for Lincoln, none of this would have happened. When the moment comes, those talks with Lincoln seem like a terrible thing, but once everything gets settled down, she's glad that he's there for her. Even if she is supposed to be the older sister.

Of course after a few weeks, everything went back to normal. Lynn went back to school with a month's worth of schoolwork to catch up on and she continued beating everyone in every sport she played. While Lincoln was curious as to why someone would get so jealous over something, that they would intentionally try to make someone as mad as they made Lynn, he didn't think much of it. Besides, after this squabble of sorts, Lincoln decided to look up jealousy in the dictionary, online of course. But what caught his eye wasn't the initial definition, but rather a lack of definition. No where did he find that jealousy was wanting what someone else had. He then looked up envy, because he knew the two words were related and found what he was looking for.

 _Envy (n.) - painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another, joined with a desire to possess the same advantage._

After reading this and pondering it for a while, it was obvious that Tommy was not Jealous, but rather, Envious of Lynn. This was interesting because it meant that all his life, he had always used the word "Jealous" incorrectly. It made him wonder what it actually meant to be jealous. Going back, he looked again at the definition of the word. At First he didn't completely understand it, but looking down the page a little more, the third definition shed some light on the subject.

 _Jealous (adj.) 3. - Vigilant in guarding a possession_

He read it to himself a few times and then chuckled for a moment. While neither him or his sisters were considered possessions by any means, he understood what it meant regarding them. Lynn was definitely vigilant in guarding him. Tommy may have been envious of Lynn's abilities, but Lynn was Jealous of her little brother. He got off of his laptop and started to read some comics. Still thinking about it, he chuckled again. Then, not a moment later, Lynn bust into his room.

"Hey Lincoln! Look what I got!"

Lincoln looked over to see what Lynn had in her hand and saw a couple of sports video games. She had convinced mom to buy some for her to play.

"Whoa!" Lincoln said as he stared in awe at the games in his sisters.

"You wanna play?" she asked, waving them back and forth.

"Heck yeah I do!" Lincoln replied.

Thinking back on what it meant to be jealous, he realized that he was jealous of his sisters too. He was okay with that though, and he was okay of his sisters being jealous of him. Because that meant, that no matter what might happen, they would always be there for him, and him for his sisters.


End file.
